Legal help for homeschoolers is available!
Home School Legal Defense Association has offered supportive professional legal assistance for many years.
We invited HSLDA's Darren Jones to tell us more.
He responded with this narrative sharing dozens of examples of how HSLDA has provided legal help for homeschoolers in Iowa in just the last few months.
HSLDA assists families all over the United States with issues related to homeschooling. These include helping parents respond to public school officials who demand too much information, explaining homeschool laws to families moving into a new state, and providing consultant advice on a wide variety of homeschool topics.
In our broader work on behalf of the homeschool community, we partner with state and local organizations, like Homeschool Iowa, to promote homeschooling and keep it free from unnecessary regulation.
A Helping Hand
for an Iowa Homeschooling Family
Homeschoolers in Iowa have great freedom to choose which educational option is right for their families, including the right to dual enroll in a public school.
HSLDA recently assisted a homeschool parent in the Des Moines area who sought to dual enroll his child for access to a community college class.
Surprisingly, the school district demanded that the parent provide:
- His own driver's license;
- The student’s driver's license;
- The student’s birth certificate;
- Official proof of residence;
- Information about the student’s high school course of study; and
- Proof of immunizations.
The reason for these unusual demands?
The school representative said their attorney had advised that dual-enrolling homeschooled students must complete the same registration as fully-enrolled students.
Responding to the
School District's Excessive Demands
The parent felt these demands were inaccurate and asked HSLDA for help.
Time was of the essence. Because of the school’s delays, course attendance requirements would have soon made it impossible for the student to receive a passing grade.
Scott Woodruff,
HSLDA’s lawyer for Iowa issues,
analyzed the situation
and quickly contacted the school representatives.
He explained that the school was wrong in requiring this information. Not only was it wrong, but it was also violating a state regulation which says that a dual-enrolling homeschool student who is beyond the age of compulsory attendance (as was true in this case) only needs to provide limited information, all of which had already been supplied.
The parent followed up immediately with a compelling request to school representatives for prompt action.
Two days later, the school authorities—having consulted with their own attorney—completely reversed their stance and allowed the student to dual enroll and access the coursework without the previously-demanded documents.
Legal help for homeschoolers? HSLDA continues to provide it—and much more!
Just in the last few months in Iowa, we’ve helped dozens of other families understand what the law requires of them and assisted still more in dealing with their public school districts or social service investigations.
Our Group Services department assisted Iowa homeschool co-ops that had financial and policy questions.
HSLDA consultants reached out to numerous families who needed our aid with special needs students, with college admission questions, or with searches for specialized curriculum.
You'll find more examples on our website of the many ways that HSLDA has been assisting homeschooling families across the nation.
We appreciate the great work that Homeschool Iowa is doing supporting homeschoolers in Iowa, and we look forward to continuing our partnership in those efforts well into the future.
HSLDA Membership Discounts
for Homeschool Iowa Members
Homeschool Iowa members receive $15 off their HSLDA membership.
Also, in an effort to encourage new memberships while also supporting our state organization, HSLDA is awarding Homeschool Iowa a portion of the membership fee from every first-time HSLDA member who uses our Homeschool Iowa Discount Plan Code.